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How to use the computer: Start with the most basic of basics By
Kris Nielson
If you are reading this you know much more about computers than I do. Technically, I am a member of Generation "X" but lack the technology skills to claim any affiliation with this fast-moving generation. Computers have outgrown me and are rapidly passing up my patience and ability. I consider myself a member of the "point and click" generation. An older member of the Gen "X" generation. The Internet exploded as I entered college, and my interest in life, outside the classroom, exploded at the same time. I have never been able to stay near a monitor, be it a television or computer monitor. Outside is the place for me. I would rather be surfing the ocean than surfing the virtual world. I know I am not alone in my feelings and abilities toward the fast-moving technological world. There are those of us in the world lacking any ability to use computers or anything like unto it. Since I am not alone in my feelings I deem it necessary to show the "me's" of the world, the basics in computer use. The irony in all this is the fact that this article will only be available on the computer. Anyone reading the final product will already have the sufficient information above and beyond my own computer knowledge. Now let's start. . . . Northville, if the link is down as it usually is when someone like me does it, type this into the long skinny window thing at the top of the screen: http://www.Northville.lib.mi.us/us/tech/tutor/welcome.html. It might say "Location:" beside it. This link will take you to very beginning, a very good place to start. I do not plan to take everyone on a boring venture through my computer illiteracy. I plan only to give each of you a place to start your learning experience in the computer field. The Northville site takes you through a computer, its components, the keyboard and the basic functions. To be honest, I didn't know sites like this existed. Like I said before, irony, you have to know how to use the computer to get to the tutorials on . . . how to use a computer. As a newbie in the virtual world, I have found that text-only sites are not your friend. These sites purposely take away your opportunity to "point and click." Although to credit most text-only domains, they are great places to express feelings, etc, and share ideas with your peers. They are not, however, user friendly to the computer beginner. The mouse is your friend. As you can see in the link, placed so prominently in this article, it can and should be the most used tool in your computer use. If you do things right, the ENTER key and the mouse could be the only tools ever used with your computer. Computers have been invented to simplify work load and easy use. Technology is your friend. Just don't get in over your head. This is not an easy thing to do. Do you remember the last time you turned in anything to a teacher, hand written? Do you remember the last time you wrote a letter to a friend with pen and paper? Kim Nielson, a Utah State University student, said, "Computers are supposed to speed things up. They are supposed to make homework a breeze but sometimes it is just easier to look it up in the library, and skip all the frozen screens, lost disks, broken printers and 're-directed' web pages, that you swear were there yesterday." I couldn't have put it better myself. We spend more time trying to ease our technology pains than it would take just to do it an old fashioned way. Why? Because, I'll say it again, it is ironic. Computers are a hands-on tool. It is a job learning to use one. Kudos to those with the valuable knowledge of computer use. It is something I will envy for the rest of my analog life.
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